


Love is the Best Seasoning

by kawaikunai



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 00:31:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8230028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawaikunai/pseuds/kawaikunai
Summary: Aoba attempts to make a bento for Koujaku and hopes for the best.





	

Aoba can only stare at the pan in front of him as if he’s never seen anything quite like it before. Frozen in place, he watches as the thin layer of egg turns from a pale brown to a steady black. 

Perhaps it’s the smell of smoke that attracts Granny’s attention, because a moment later she bursts into the kitchen, yanking the pan from Aoba’s grasp and making quick work of his disaster.

‘The oil,’ he thinks, ‘I forgot the oil.’

No wonder the moment the eggs hit the heat they’d been impossible to budge… Had Aoba been smarter, or perhaps more of a morning person (it’s 6:00am and really, no one has any business being awake right now) he would have removed the pan from the stove the moment the eggs had started to burn. 

He’s snapped out of that bout of self reflection by Tae’s yelling. While she berates him she pours oil into the pan before setting it on the stove, and cracks two eggs expertly-she only has to use one hand. Aoba’s pretty sure he managed to get a couple of eggshells in his previous attempt at cooking.

While the eggs sizzle Tae beckons him closer with a nod and he scrambles forward. She maneuvers her chopsticks and folds the thinly cooked layer of eggs in half. This time it’s a beautiful, pale shade of yellow, and Aoba can’t help but feel that he hasn’t truly appreciated his Granny’s skills until now.

“Here, now you try,” she holds up the cooking chopsticks. Aoba’s eyes widen.

“H-huh? Are you sure? You saw what happened the last time-“

“There’s no point if I’m the one doing everything! Didn’t you want to do this yourself!” She snaps. Without another word, Aoba takes hold of the chopsticks and stares down the egg. She’s right of course, he wanted to do this, but at the same time, he wants everything to end up edible. As effortless as she made it seem, he struggles to copy her techniques. He eventually succeeds in folding it over a few times. Sure it’s lumpy, and somewhat misshapen, but Granny has been watching over this whole time, and if she hasn’t made any comments, then it should be safe. Probably.

The visually unappealing tamagoyaki aside, Aoba takes a look at the rest of the ingredients strewn across the counter.

He groans internally, wondering just what he was thinking.

—-

Hours later, it’s a new sort of nervousness that sits in the pit of his stomach. Despite the tune of the lunch bell ringing, Aoba finds that he has no appetite at all. He rises from his desk and clutches at his schoolbag- hidden inside is his neatly wrapped bento. He’d worried that someone would comment on the strange, bulky appearance of his usually very empty bag. After all, he isn’t exactly known to take his textbooks home with him.

Somehow, he’s made it this far without notice, though he’s starting to wonder if he should back out at this point. From weirdly shaped tamagoyaki to overly round onigiri, it’s not like what he’s prepared is exactly gourmet.

“Aoba!”

Aoba immediately freezes at the sound of his name. Koujaku makes his way beside him, all smiles.

“You ready to get lunch?” Koujaku holds up his wallet, which causes Aoba to swallow nervously. After all, the two of them usually just buy a bunch of bread and juice to share. 

Mind racing, Aoba forgets to answer.

“…Aoba, are you okay?” Koujaku’s brows furrow, eyes filled with concern.

“Eh? Ah, y-yeah, I’m fine!” he blurts out, turning slightly red at how stupid he sounds. Koujaku just happens to be one of the nicest, sappiest guys he knows. Even if it turns out to be a disaster, he knows deep down that he’d never rub it in Aoba’s face. Chiding himself for his nerves, Aoba clears his throat and squares his shoulders.

“A-actually,” he says, the questioning look in Koujaku’s eyes making his bravado waver, “I-I brought us lunch,” he looks down at the last few words, unable to keep eye contact any longer.

“Oh?” Koujaku’s tone is full of surprise. Aoba finally looks up again once he feels Koujaku wrap his hand around his. He's wearing a big grin, and gives Aoba’s hand a squeeze, “let’s hurry up and eat then!”

—

The rooftop is a quiet escape from the bustle of the classroom, and their favourite spot to hang out when the weather allows for it. It appears that lady luck is shining on Aoba today, as the warm sun and soft breeze create a soothing atmosphere.

Aoba can feel his hands shake as he takes the cloth covered bento box out of his bag. He slowly unwraps it and separates the layers, showing off the assortment of food he’s prepared.

Tamagoyaki. Onigiri. Sausages. Salad (no celery of course). All rather sad looking, in Aoba’s opinion.

He sneaks a glance over to Koujaku, who is staring at the food with wide eyes.

“Aoba… did you make all this?”

“Y-yeah,” oh god, was it really that obvious? “Well, Granny also helped me since I’ve never really done this before.”

Koujaku turns to him, beaming, “it looks great! But what brought this on so suddenly?”

“I- well, the other day, you mentioned that it’d been a while since you had a bento for lunch, and, well,” unable to continue his sentence, Aoba shakes his head and slams down the chopsticks, “a-anyway! Let’s hurry up and eat before class starts!”

“Aoba…”

Slowly, Aoba looks over at Koujaku, who leans in and gives him a quick peck on the lips.

“Thank you Aoba, I’m so lucky, getting to eat your homemade cooking like this.”

“Like I said, just shut up and eat already,” Aoba mumbles, red to his ears. 

Koujaku doesn’t need to be told again. He dives into the food, sampling everything available. Rather than focusing on the food, Aoba takes note of Koujaku’s reactions. He doesn’t look like he’s ready to vomit. Rather, he’s happily chewing on everything he gets his mouth on.

Aoba nibbles on a piece of onigiri. It’s not bad, he thinks.

“Aoba,” Koujaku says, interrupting their few minutes of comfortable silence, “this is the best lunch I’ve ever had.”

Aoba nearly chokes from how fast he inhales at that, “wha- what are you talking about? Granny’s food is way better than this!”

“I’m serious!” Koujaku says, and judging by his expression, he’s not joking at all, “I can really taste it. The love you put into it.”

“Love?” Aoba nearly groans out loud, “y-you hippo! Quit being so embarrassing!”

“What, you don’t believe me? Here,” Koujaku holds up a slice of tamagoyaki in front of Aoba’s face.

“…What do you think you’re doing?”

“Come on, take a bite~”

They stare each other down, Koujaku with a huge smile on his face, Aoba with his eyes narrowed. With a sigh, Aoba accepts defeat and leans in, eating the tamagoyaki out of Koujaku’s chopsticks and chewing slowly.

“…it’s alright.”

“It’s delicious,” Koujaku corrects. He leans in until his forehead is flush against Aoba’s, “thank you Aoba, really, I’m so happy.”

“You don’t have to get so serious all of a sudden,” Aoba says, giggling when Koujaku gets even closer and rubs their noses together. 

He thinks he might start practicing cooking with Granny more often. Maybe, he’ll even take a stab at making one of those lovey-dovey deco bentos too.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't completed a fic in ten million years and I didn't really take the time to edit this, so apologies for any mistakes.


End file.
